Community Corner
For Your Philanthropic Consideration: Five Marietta Nonprofits
Marietta boasts a strong reputation as a good base for business and government, but the city serves as home to many nonprofit organizations. We feature five today.
Many things in Marietta get the spotlight. Perhaps it's the Big Chicken or Williamson Bros. on the culinary end or maybe Marietta Square or the Strand on the landmark end. Marietta has had its share of high-profile politicians from congressmen to a governor and high-profile military connections with Dobbins Air Reserve Base and Lockheed.
Marietta does its best to highlight nonprofit organizations. The Humane Society of Cobb County just this past weekend held its immensely popular "Puttin' on the Ritz" fundraiser, and many downtown merchants hold fundraisers in support of charitable groups.
Marietta Patch features non-profits as well. This week's Patch Picks offers five of them.
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Choosing five nonprofits in Marietta compares with singling out one of your children. So this list should by no measures be seen as a definitive list nor a comprehensive one. It's simply a list. And Marietta Patch loves lists, so if you have other Marietta nonprofits we should feature ... let us know. We will make another list or feature them in the near future.
Without further adieu:
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1. Center for Family Resources, 995 Roswell St., Suite 326. 770-428- 2601. Formed in 1960, the Center for Family Resources operates under the mission of strengthening familes and individuals so they can become self-sufficient and eventually end the cycle of poverty. To that end, the center provides employment services, education and housing as well as mentoring opportunites and food and financial assistance.
In 2009, the center assisted 520 families with rent and utility payments, totaling $450,842; provided food to 2,336 households; provided 601 individuals with transportation assistance; and housed 79 families through short-term and transitional housing programs.
The center owns and operates The Mansour Center, which not only provides office space for a dozen other non-profits but also meeting spaces for the Chamber of Commerce and other civic groups and for special events such as Marietta's annual Daddy-Daughter Dance.
2. MUST Ministries, 1407 Cobb Parkway North. 770-427-9862. MUST Ministries formed in 1971 to provide services to individuals and families in need. A Christian-based charity, MUST Ministries allows volunteers to put their faith into action and minister to the poor, the brokenhearted and those who are in crisis.
MUST focuses on the needs of residents in Marietta, Smyrna and Canton and Cherokee County without judgment of the beliefs, background or circumstances of those who serve or of those being served.
In recent years, MUST expanded its day services in Marietta, now serving about 32,000 people a year at three locations; expanded its emergency shelter at Elizabeth Inn, now at capacity with 68 beds; relocated its administrative offices with more room for clients, staff and volunteers and helped expand the Kennsesaw State University Community Health Clinic to six state-of-the-art treatment rooms.
3. Right in the Community, 615 Roswell St., Suite 150. 770-427-8401. Right in the Community's origins stretch back to 1956 when a small group of parents fought back against a system of institutionalizing children with mental retardation. Through bake sales and fundraisers, the group raised enough money to start a day program. A few years later, the group obtained land and built the Happiness Hills Center and became a chapter of the National Association for Retarded Children, Inc., which later became The Arc.
Renaming itself Right in the Community in 2007, the group remains committed to promoting opportunities for all people with developmental disabilities to live full, productive, self-determined lives.
The group has built more than 18 homes for adults with developmental disabilities in addition to opening the first school in Cobb for children with mental retardation. Among its accomplishments, the group started the first parent support group for Cobb parents and professionals, opened the first Cobb respite home and opened the first Cobb Summer Day Camp for children with disabilities.
4. Cobb Community Collaborative, 995 Roswell St., Suite 326. 770-514-7212. The Cobb Community Collaborative is a membership non-profit organization designed to help nonprofit groups, government entities, schools, businesses, faith-based groups and citizens work in collaboration on community initiatives. Presently, the collaborative has more than 100 members.
The Cobb Community Collaborative's purpose is to improve the quality of life for all residents in Cobb County through coordinated efforts of its member organizations. ur Member Organizations. Collaboration focuses on children and families, homelessness, employment issues, business development and education.
Since 1997, the collaborative has directed the Cobb County's nonprofit grant review process and awards grants for a variety of human services programs that address important community needs in the county.
5. The Extension, 1507 Church St. Extension, 770-590-9075. The Extension helps chemically dependent men and women throughout metro Atlanta to become sober and accountable members of society. The Extension's Residential Recovery Program for homeless men is the largest of its kind in the area, and the nonprofit opened a similar program for homeless women in May 2009.
The Extension opened in 1987 as the Marietta-Cobb Winter Shelter. In the early years, the staff saw first hand the effects of substance abuse and redirected its mission to address the leading cause of homelessness.
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